Penguins make a series of it

The Pittsburgh Penguins got themselves back into their Stanley Cup finals series against the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-2 victory in Game 3 at Mellon Arena on Tuesday night.

The win, in front of a crowd of 17,123, cut the Red Wings’ lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1 with Game 4 on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are attempting to become just the fourth team in NHL history to rebound from an 0-2 deficit and win the Cup.

Sergei Gonchar scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and had an assist, Maxime Talbot had two goals and Evgeni Malkin added three assists to propel Pittsburgh, which also got strong goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury.

“It was a great win,” said Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who had a goal and assist. “Everyone was pretty fired up at the beginning of the game. We knew we had to play with desperation and that’s what everyone did.”

The Penguins opened the scoring early in the first period on Talbot’s first score of the night. Malkin found his open teammate with a backhand pass and Talbot fired a one-timer from the high slot past Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood for a 1-0 lead.

After goals by Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead, the Penguins went on the power play and Letang sent a shot from the top of the left circle that slipped by Osgood late in the first for a tie score.

After a scoreless second, the Penguins turned things in their favor. After being outshot 26-11 through two periods, the Penguins sent 10 against Osgood while the Red Wings managed only three on Fleury. Third-period play had been a strength during the playoffs for Detroit, as it had outscored opponents 19-6 and outshot them 210-153 before Tuesday.

“I thought they played a good first 10 minutes,” Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock said.

“We took the game over for about the next 30 and really had great opportunities in the second. Probably as many as we’ve had at any period of time [and] we didn’t score.”

Pittsburgh got the go-ahead goal from Gonchar with 9 minutes 31 seconds remaining in the final period. With Jonathan Ericsson off for interference, Gonchar’s blast from the point sailed over Osgood’s glove for a 3-2 Penguins lead.

The defenseman’s goal with the man advantage was the Penguins’ third in their last four opportunities in the series. Talbot added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

“When you can get two power-play goals in a key game like this . . . it was a great thing to have,” Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma said. “[It was] a huge thing to have in addition to the way our goalie played. We needed big performances from special teams and our goaltender and we certainly got them.”

Fleury made 27 saves in the victory while Osgood fell to 10-3 in Stanley Cup finals games.

“It’s just a good feeling to be back in the series and finally get our first win,” said Fleury, who improved to 13-7 in the postseason.

“They have a very good team. Every night is going to be a battle. I saw red jerseys in front of me. It’s always interesting they’re there. It’s always a battle to find the puck.”

--

ckuc@tribune.com